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The
Green Party of New Jersey
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30-DAY WARNING FOR PROPOSALS: Section 7 –- Conventions Section 7.1 -- Annual Conventions A statewide Annual Convention of Members shall be held for the election of Officers, and for deciding other significant matters, as determined by the Executive Committee or by a Petition. Local Affiliates may submit to the Executive Committee proposals for consideration; such proposals must be received for review by the Executive Committee at least thirty (30) days prior to the starting date of the Annual Convention. |
| ============================================= 1) Proposed by Monmouth County To: The Green Party of New Jersey February 14, 2007 Introduced by Joseph Keegel, Jr. I request the Green Party initiate and spearhead the following Petition: We request Jon Corzine, Governor of the State of New Jersey, to develop and implement a program to reduce the States’ consumption of fossil fuel derived energy by 3% per year for the next ten years and by 2% every year thereafter from 2006 levels. This includes all energy the State and its agencies use or cause to be used. Further the Governor should encourage county and municipal governments to adopt similar programs. Mission critical services should be exempt from these requirements, for example State police vehicles and fire trucks. And the Department of Transportation should be examined on a per passenger mile basis. Capital projects incorporated in the program should be cost effective, that is they must have better than a 10 year payout based on current energy prices. If adopted this program would: 1- Reduce taxes 2- Reduce the States contribution to greenhouse gasses, carbon dioxide 3- Reduce air borne pollutants; sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, mercury, particulates, 4- Reduce the cost of oil imports, some of which go to governments which are increasingly hostile to the United States. 5- It may lead to the creation of employment opportunities in energy conservation which could then be applied in the private sector. The petition should be universally well received because the objective is for the public good and while most petitions are against something this petition is for something positive. There may also be a psychological element as well: The State has just increased my sales tax by 16% and increased its budget by 10% and all the chatter in Trenton is about shuffling revenues or selling State assets but there is very little conversation about the State cutting its expenses. Here is our opportunity to make the State cut its expenditures. My concept is to publish the petition in the GreenGram and in the local newsletters of environmentally conscious organizations such as NJ Environmental Federation, the Sierra Club, the Audubon Society, The Nature Conservancy, and so forth. People would then cut out and sign the petition and mail it to our Trenton PO Box. We could state we intend publishing the petition in larger circulation periodicals provided we collect sufficient funds. “ We would appreciate your donation however contributions are limited to $3.00.” The petition should also be on our web site where it can be easily printed and hopefully signed and mailed. Stepping back a little to get a better view of the forest—on a national basis the chances of the Federal Government enacting significant legislation on this issue are slim primarily because of the mindset of the Administration and because the energy interests have gained access via campaign contributions to the sub committee members who would release a bill to the floor. However resources of the energy interests would be severely strained if they had to simultaneously fight this petition in 50 States! If only a handful of States initiate an energy conservation program the pressure on the other States to develop similar measures will be enormous. We could place the petition on the national web site, the user would click on his state and the name of the governor, the State name, and Green Party PO Box address would appear on the printable copy of the petition. What does the Green Party have to gain from this effort? In many cases this will be the first contact the public has with the Green Party. They will see we take a sensible approach to solving problems and are interested in improving the environment, reducing the cost of government, improving our national accounts, and creating jobs. Hopefully this will be reflected in the voting booth. In large measure it depends on how well we publicize our effort, for example will the local cable news stations and newspapers have a camera crew present when we deliver the petition to the governor? Further the drive will produce a list of like minded individuals. I’m not sure how best to use the list or what the legal restraints are but I recognize it as a valuable resource. It is not our responsibility to point out how the energy savings are to be achieved. A few conceptual/directional ideas follow. When reviewing the ideas please bear in mind the ideas are meant to be applied only where appropriate, a solution in a rural area may be inappropriate in a large urban setting. 1- The average residential street light uses 143 watts of electricity. If this lamp provides sufficient light at street intersections could we not use a lower watt lamp in the middle of residential streets? 2- Many highways have a grassy medium which is mowed each summer. Why not mow only the edges of the medium, as required for safety, and leave the remainder fallow? Or plant trees and/or shrubs? 3- We know the ocean temperature approaches 70 degrees F in late August but did you know the temperature was 42 degrees F at Ambrose light on February 9 this year? The Governor should request one of the engineering schools in the State to examine the feasibility of using a geothermal-heat pump type system to extract some of this heat to provide supplemental heat to public and municipal buildings located adjacent to rivers, bays, and estuaries. 4- The next time you pass a municipal parking lot at night see if all the lights are on. Maybe there should be two levels of lighting: one when there is traffic and another severely reduced level when there is no activity. 5- Is maximum use made of high efficiency lighting devices? 6- Are all conference rooms, supply rooms, lavatories, copy rooms, etc. equipped with motion sensors so that the lights are extinguished when unoccupied? 7- Look at the fleet of vehicles and ask “how many of these vehicles gets 25 miles per gallon?” Why does the Fire Marshal/Building Inspector/Police Chief need a SUV? Not only are these vehicles expensive to purchase, at 8 to 12 miles per gallon they are more expensive to operate and they are more expensive to insure. 8- Air travel is energy intensive. The Governor needs to take a hard look at this. 9- The postman delivers my mail by driving a mini truck. How much fuel would be saved if the mail were delivered every other day? 10- It’s 3:00am,February 3, it’s 18 degrees, wind out of the north at 9 miles per hour no one has been here for hours and no one will be here until 6:00am but every light along the boardwalk from Loch Arbor to Bay Head is lit!! A more sensible solution would be to extinguish the lights at 9:00 pm during weekdays and 11:00 pm during the weekend, and extend those hours a little during the summer months. 11- The Department of Transportation and local schools should work together to eliminate instances where school buses follow a DOT bus route especially when the DOT bus has only a few passengers. The school bus and its expense and tail pipe emissions could be eliminated and the students would become comfortable with public transportation. This suggestion applies only to those students old enough to do so safely. When I proposed this petition idea to the Monmouth county Green Party Paul Rinear stated the energy reduction figures were pretty ambitious. My original thought was if you aim high you will hit high. The next morning on the radio I heard an advertisement by United Technologies(Pratt and Whitney jet engines, Carrier Air conditioners, Otis Elevator, etc. a very large company) which stated they reduced their energy consumption by 18% in the last 9 years. That’s 2% per year and given 9 years ago they were more energy conscious than government is today I don’t think my 3% per year goal is overly ambitious. Thank you, Background: Undergraduate degree in Chemical Engineering, NJ Institute of Technology 1967: MBA Finance Seton Hall Univ. 1974. Initially employed be a large engineering contractor designing chemical plants and oil refineries; later employed by an oil company as Project Engineer. Field Construction Engineer, Senior Project Engineer, Project Manager, Director of Engineering at a Petroleum Refinery, and Refinery Manager at 3 different Refineries. Subsequently developed a process to treat a hazardous waste byproduct of steel mini mills for which I received 2 US patents and finally am developing a process to recover the strategic materials contained in super alloy grinding swarf. ============================================= 2) Proposed by
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